'Johanne and Rochelle have made the series': Big Brother fans praise drama as show hits rating record

Big Brother fans have praised the show's new, dramatic season as ITV has shared record-breaking stats about the latest episode, which marked the biggest year-on-year increase for the series so far.

ITV said in a statement: "Big Brother is continuing to make a big impact on ITVX, clocking up 12.7m streams so far – up 50% on the 8.5m streams recorded after 13 episodes last year."

The broadcaster also added that last night's episode was "the biggest of the series outside of the launch episodes since 2024", earning 645k viewers and recording an increase of +41% year-on-year, marking the biggest year-on-year increase for the series so far.

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To the fans, the success of this season boils down to the heated rows between housemates, with one viewer branding Johanne and Rochelle "drama queens" and the reason why Big Brother is thriving.

On Instagram, viewers have weighed in on a clip of some of the housemates commenting on the chaos, which saw Rochelle and Johanne being at the centre of several arguments since the first episode.

"ITS ALL THE DRAMA MICK I LOVE IT!! 😂 BB 👁️ needs drama otherwise we'd all be asleep," one viewer declared as another urged the show to "keep the drama queens in!!!!!"

"We are watching Big Brother because of the DRAMA!!!!" someone else noted as a fourth viewer offered: "[Johanne] and Rochelle have made this series tbh. I don’t know if I could live with either though 😂."

The duo's furious exchanges have left fans in stitches, as some branded their row over the air fryer last week "phenomenal" and "the definition of chaos reality tv".

Meanwhile, the new series has proved divisive as it debuted a different exit interview format than previous seasons. Rather than a lengthy chat on now-defunct spin-off Late & Live, exit interviews with evicted housemates have now been reduced to a 10-minute segment as part of the main show.

It seems that co-host Will Best agrees with some of the fans who are disgruntled about the new format, stating on an Instagram Live after the show that it was "mad" the he and AJ Odudu only had "seven minutes" to interview and he does "miss Late & Live".

Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and streams on ITVX.

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Reporter, Digital Spy

Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy. 

Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).